Ezekiel 40-48

[Annie]

Originally Posted by Eze 40

1 In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was captured, on the very same day the hand of the LORD was upon me; and He took me there. 2 In the visions of God He took me into the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain; on it toward the south was something like the structure of a city. 3 He took me there, and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze. He had a line of flax and a measuring rod in his hand, and he stood in the gateway.
4 And the man said to me, “Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears, and fix your mind on everything I show you; for you were brought here so that I might show them to you. Declare to the house of Israel everything you see.” 5 Now there was a wall all around the outside of the temple. In the man’s hand was a measuring rod six cubits long, each being a cubit and a handbreadth; and he measured the width of the wall structure, one rod; and the height, one rod.

obviously i won't post the entire passage of scripture i'm referring to but i always thought these chapters were interesting to study. Everyone give them a read and lemme know what your take is on the visions Ezekiel was given. Have they been fulfilled? are they yet to be fulfilled?

[DeaconDean]

Two years ago, I did a study on just this thing.

The last nine chapters of Ezekiel.

There is some confusion on whether they are millennial, or awaiting fulfillment.

Eze. 43:10-11 are the keys to understanding what these chapters are all about.

"Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern. And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them." -Eze. 43:10-11 (KJV)

They were a promise. If Israel did this, then God would do His part. And sadly, Israel did not hold up their end of the bargin.

There a lot of "things" in the last nine chapters which today, would be unacceptable in Christianity as a whole.

God Bless

Till all are one.

[DeaconDean]

Let me give you just a brief overview of the issues with the last nine chapters of Ezekiel.

Regarding the congregation:

Circumcision is the essential; even strangers must be circumcised in the `flesh' (see chap. 44:6-9).

`No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into My sanctuary.' Definite! But St. Paul teaches in Galatians 5, verse 2: `If ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.'

Again, in verse 3: `Every man that is circumcised … is a debtor to do the whole law.' Which according to verse 4 makes Christ `of no effect'.

Also, in Galatans 6, verse 15, we read: `In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.'

Therefore, if these last nine chapters of Ezekiel are Millennial, the rite of circumcision will be imperative, though the restoration of circumcision will render Christ ineffective as Saviour.

Regarding the Priesthood:

This is both Levitical and Aaronic; for service and for sacrifice. The subordinate order of Levites were ministers (? attendants) in the Sanctuary, to discharge the lesser offices, but not to offer sacrifices (ch. 44: 10-15):

`The Levites … shall be ministers in My sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house … they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people … they shall not come near unto Me, to do the office of a priest unto Me… but I will make them keepers of the charge of the house.'

Those of higher office, the priests, were to be also from among the sons of Levi, but entirely of the sons of Zadok (ch. 40: 46); Zadok was High Priest in David's time, eleventh in descent from Aaron:

… the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok among the sons of Levi, which come near to the Lord to minister unto Him.'

Their ministry was to be that of a sacrificing priesthood, making offerings at the altar continually, both for the people and for themselves (ch. 44:11).

Verse 11, `they [the Levites] shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people.'

Verse 15, `But the priests . . . the sons of Zadok . shall stand before Me to offer unto Me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God.'

Verse 27, `in the day that he [the priest] goeth . . to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, saith the Lord God.'

See also chapter 43, verse 18 to end.

If this is a prophecy of the Millennial Age it makes void the sole Priesthood of Jesus (Hebrews 5), and foretells the resumption of an earthly priesthood and an endless succession of blood sacrifices for all manner of purposes and occasions, to effect what Christ as High Priest offering Himself must therefore have failed to effect.

Further, these priestly ministrations at the altar, with continual offerings of animal sacrifices, were `to make reconciliation' for the people (ch. 45, verses 15 and 17) whereas we read in Hebrews 2, verse 17, that it is Christ Who is the `merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people'.

If this is true, why in the Millennial Age should the Priesthood of Zadok be revived, unless it could do what Christ must therefore have failed to do?

Moreover, we read in 2 Corinthians 5, verses 18 and 19 that God `hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself… and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.'

If there is to be indeed a restored Levitical Aaronic-Zadok priesthood in the Millennium to set flowing again constant streams of animal blood for the reconciliation of man with God, what becomes of the ministry and word of reconciliation once committed to the Apostolic Ministry? Can anything be more certain than that the temple prophecy of Ezekiel relates solely to the lapsed possibilities of pre-Christian times? In this connection study Hebrews 7 for the passing of the Levitical-Aaronic priesthood when Christ entered effectively upon His Melchizedek Priesthood.

Regarding the sacrifice:

They were to be burnt offerings, sin offerings, meat offerings, trespass offerings and peace offerings. Read the full list and mark the details of the ordinances in chapters 40: 39; 42: I3; 43: 18 to end; 44: 27-29; 45:17 to end; 46. In the two latter chapters the sacrificial observances of Sabbaths and new moons, as well as the daily sacrifices, were to be resumed. If the Millennial Age is to be a period during which the worship of God is to be compulsorily accompanied by the unceasing flow of animal blood it will be very unlike the blessed time foretold in that lovely conception of it visioned by Isaiah (ch. 11: 6-9):

`The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox … they shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.'

Further, chapter 45:21 ordains the restoration of the Passover, to be observed with seven days' eating of unleavened bread, and sin offerings of bullocks, rams and kids.

Now, if this refers to Millennial times, was not St. Paul sadly mistaken when he declared in 1 Corinthians 5:7, that `Christ our passover is sacrificed for us'?

If St. Paul was right they are wrong who regard Ezekiel's restored Passover as Millennial; if Christ be indeed the very `Lamb of God Who taketh away the sin of the world', if St. John truly visioned Him ascending the throne in heaven `a Lamb as it had been slain', then surely Ezekiel's vision related only to the possibilities of pre-Christian times.

On this question of the resumption of blood sacrifices in the future, study Hebrews 10, especially verses 1-14. In verses 5-9 our Lord's First Coming is expressly stated to have been in order that by the taking away of the legal sacrifices through the offering of His own Body He might establish the will of God, and so we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all' (v. 10).

Why should it be supposed to be necessary, by the restoration of sacrifices, to establish the will of God in the Millennial era if that has already been done by our Lord `once for all'?

Moreover, from Hebrews 10:16-18 we learn that the New Covenant being now in operation there is no further need of sacrifices.

Verse 18, `there is no more offering for sin.'

Verse 14, `By one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.'

So then the all-sufficient Sacrifice, and the last ever to be offered, was that of Calvary! Is it conceivable that in the better days to come we shall renounce that Blessed Substance of final redemptive achievement for the renewal of vain type and shadow?

Regarding the government:

These last nine chapters of Ezekiel refer to an order of rulers of the restored Israel nation called `princes', a term often used in the Bible, signifying rulers from among the people, not at all necessarily royal or kingly. Frequent mention of `the prince', `my princes', etc., is made in chapters 44, 45, 46 and 47. The prince has sons, and must make provision for them out of his own resources (`possessions'). There is not a single reference in these chapters to their being of David's line; the title `king' is never once used and nothing can be more certain than that the term `prince' or the office it covers has here no Messianic significance, for not only has he sons and the obligation of providing for them, but as prince he has the further obligation of making such numerous offerings of animal sacrifices for Israel and for himself that a special tax of ½ per cent is to be levied on the people to provide these offerings (ch. 45:15-22). The not uncommon supposition that this prince is the Messiah in His Millennial reign seems to be too grotesque for consideration.

Therefore it may be concluded that in Ezekiel's day, the House of David having passed over to another branch of the House of Israel as indicated in other prophecies (e.g. Ezekiel 17, esp. vv. 22-24), provision was included in the interim scheme of national restoration, committed to Ezekiel as ambassador to Israel, for a kind of hereditary presidency or princedom, to fill up the interval until the expiry of that dispensation.

That is why I believe that the last nine chapters of Ezekiel were a promise of what God would do if Israel:

"Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern. And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them." -Eze. 43:10-11 (KJV)

God Bless

Till all are one.

[Pete Martinez]

Quite honestly don't know, it really throws me off, I know for a fact that there will be one more temple for sure, because there needs to be a temple for antichrist to commit the abomination of desolation.

It is also believed by some that when Christ comes back he will build the new temple(the one when the millenium begins), based on this verse...
Zechariah 6:12-And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name [is] The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:
Zechariah 6:13-Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
but then again... ends with...
Zechariah 6:15-And they [that are] far off shall come and build in the temple of the LORD, and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. And [this] shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God.

so.... yea... stumped. I mean we know from scripture that we are a spiritual temple, but the temple described in Ezekiel is literal and physical. They go so far as to say that the sacrifices will be a memorial, but... hm...

Also, the funny thing is that we haven't gone into the 70th week of Daniel (do a study on this I'm not going into the details) When the Jews rejected Christ all of a sudden the focus on Israel stopped. After the rejection God focused on the Gentiles, ushering into the current church age, once the church age ends we go into the 70th week of Daniel, focusing again on Israel, so it would make a good possibility that the temple in Ezekiel is literal. The bible does promise that there will be a kingdom age for Israel, and God does fulfill his promises.